Wash your hands with cold water? Find out if it is really that effective

With the current energy prices, many people want to use every opportunity to be cost-efficient and save money wherever possible. Others are concerned about the environment and try to save resources.

Is cold water effective?

This leads to the money-saving trick of always washing your hands with cold water. This saves resources and also saves money. But the question that arises is whether cold water also removes germs sufficiently. Especially in times like these, when Covid-19 cases are on the rise again and colds are calling, one should be especially careful. In any case, health comes first.

The duration of hand washing is decisive

However, the website infektionsschutz.de, a site of the Federal Centre for Health Education, assures: Whether cold or warm water is used for hand washing is not relevant. What really determines whether bacteria are killed is how long you wash your hands. According to the website, you should wash your hands thoroughly for at least 20 seconds.

Using soap helps

Soap should not be avoided. For one thing, surfactants kill the germs on our skin and make our hands thoroughly clean. But, those who use soap usually wash more thoroughly anyway to remove soap residue as well. So it has two effective advantages at once. Infektionsschutz.de advises washing your hands especially after visiting the toilet, before eating, after coming home and after contact with animals.

This article was translated from Gentside DE.

Sources used:

Infektionsschutz.de: Händewaschen

Bundeszentrale für gesundheitliche Aufklärung: 10 Hygienetipps